A/N: Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry! I had writer's block, but my friend helped me out. I want to thank and acknowledge my new Beta-Reader PandaFellOffTheSlide who has edited most of my chapters so far and will continue to edit the rest of the story. I didn't send this one to him though because I made you guys wait long enough. Sorry if there are a lot of mistakes (which there probably are), but like I said, I wasn't able to send this to my beta-reader. Continue reading…
Chapter Nine: The Prince
"Do you like this one?" Grover asks me and I shake my head no. We were in the men's area of the castle wardrobe looking for a tuxedo since tomorrow night was the ball and so far, I haven't found one tux that seemed to fit or look right. The guys and my advisors had already chosen their tux and now I was the only one. One tux caught my eye behind a rack of turquoise tuxedos. What kind of a person would wear a turquoise tuxedo? I grabbed it and noticed how simple, yet good-looking it was. It was a plain black dress jacket with a pressed white shirt under. The bow tie was black and it didn't look too dorky like some of the other tuxedos I tried on previously. I went to one of the many dressing rooms and tried on the jacket with the white shirt. It fit perfectly.
"Hey guys, I found one," I say as I reach the door where all of my friends are standing together laughing about something.
"That's a nice one. Where did you find it?" Johnny asks me.
"It was behind a rack of turquoise tuxedos," I say with a laugh.
"Nice," Jason says.
"I know right," I answer. When we leave, the thing that is on my mind for the rest of the say was whether or not the tuxedo that I chose would impress Annabeth.
I wake up the next morning with a feeling of dread and excitement at the same time. The dread is if I would pick Annabeth because she is my best friend and I have never been more comfortable around a girl than I have with her. But when we almost kissed, she pushed me away. Did she not like me and only wanted to stay friends? I ate breakfast with my parents in silence and for the rest of the day, the entire castle staff was in a flurry trying to prepare for the ball. My parents had put on the invitations that this ball was to be called the Unknown Love Ball and was to be at five o'clock since I had to dance with so many girls. When I finished getting ready at four thirty, the shock hit me of what was happening hit me and I realized that I would be getting married at least in a year. I'm sitting in my room by the window with my head in my hands when the guys and my advisors walk in laughing.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Luke asks with concern. I lift my head and see everyone crowded around me, their faces showing worry.
"Tonight I'm going to pick the girl that I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. It's a lot to take in," I say softly, "What if I don't pick the right girl?"
"You will pick the right girl. Sure, it's a little early, but you are already an adult. Tonight, when you meet with those beautiful 300 girls, you will know when you see her. How she acts, how she talks, it will all be perfect. Don't worry," Grover says comfortingly.
"I sure hope you're right. Thanks. I really needed a pep talk," I say with gratitude.
"No problem. By the way, make sure that your perfect girl isn't Vicky Sparks or Cass Jenson," Grover says, looking at Johnny and Jared.
"Why?" I ask at a loss.
"Why don't you guys explain," Beckendorf says.
"Well, for the past three months we have had girlfriends," Jared says, his cheeks flaring up.
"So that's why you two could never hang out," I say with a smile, feeling better than my previous mood.
"Yeah," Johnny says, blushing alongside Jared.
"I'm guessing the two girls are Vicky and Cass," I say knowingly and they nod in response. "When did you meet them?" I ask.
"When we were all hanging out one day, you were with your dad, Aphrodite asked us to be with one of her groups to help them to learn how to waltz and it was their group. Johnny was Cass's dancing partner and I was Vicky's," Jared says with a dreamy look on his face.
"We really liked them so we asked them out. After that one date, they started sneaking to meet up with us and we would either do stuff separately or double date. We planned to keep it secret until tonight but the guys ran into us one night when we were all heading to the game room to watch a movie," Johnny says.
"That's great guys. I'm happy for you and don't worry, I won't pick them," I say and they sigh in relief.
"Hey guys, it's time to go," Nico says as he looks at his cell phone. I get up from my seat and walk behind my friends out the door then turn right to the ballroom. We walk in silence for about five more minutes until we reach the large doors of the ballroom.
"You will have to wait. We will make proper introductions for all of you," says a guard standing in front of the door. He opens the door and says to get in a line. The order is Johnny, Jared, Luke, Travis, Jason, Nico, Beckendorf, Grover, and then me.
"John Sparks, son of Duke Matthew Sparks," the guard says and he walks in.
"Jared David Blake, son of Duke Aaron Blake," he says.
"Luke Castellan, son of Duke Hermes," he says.
"Travis Stoll, son of Duke Adam Stoll," he says.
"Jason Grace, son of Duke Zeus," he says.
"Nico Di Angelo, son of Duke Hades," he says.
"Charles Beckendorf, son of Duke Hephaestus," he says and I see him flinch when the guard said his first name and I snicker.
"Grover Underwood, son of Duke Travis Underwood," he says.
"And finally, Perseus Jackson, Prince of Atlantis, son of King Paul Blofis and Queen Sally Blofis-Jackson," he says and I put on a smile and walk in. The decorations that I see truly amaze me. On the top of the stairs, I see tables for the guests on my left, a clearing for dancing in the center, and on the right, many empty tables that I am guessing are for the girls. The golden arches surrounding the room look even more magnificent than normal with small lights hanging from the frame that look like door beads. The tables have a simple white cloth over them and the chairs are a deep red with a golden outline. The small orchestra is on a small platform in the center of the ballroom, but in the far back. I walk down the stairs and the crowd parts at the foot of the double stairs and I give them a small nod and walk to the table set for my family. When I walk towards to the table, I see Cole and Kailey sitting at our table and Kailey looking as bored as ever.
"How's my favorite girl?" I ask her and she jumps in surprise.
"Pwecy!" she squeals and leaps up from her seat and jumps into my waiting arms.
"Careful, you'll ruin that pretty dress of yours," I say with a laugh while she gives me a tight hug.
"I'm just happy to see you! You like my pwetty dress?" she asks with that adorable accent of hers.
"It's gorgeous. I love the purple flowers," I say and she grins.
"Tank you. Daddy and mommy helped me pick it out," she says.
"And boy was she picky," Cole says with his deep voice.
"I'm sure she was. Aren't all girls?" I ask and he laughs.
"Of course. Her mother was when she went shopping for a wedding dress. She took weeks!" he exclaims and I laugh.
"That's my sister. By the way, where is she?" I ask.
"Since she was assigned with her group, she has to walk in with them too," he says.
"Oh okay. Makes sense," I say.
"Pwecy? Will you dance with me later?" Kailey asks.
"I would love to dance with you. But it will have to be a little later since I have a lot of other girls to dance with," I say and she nods with understanding.
"Now what about grandpa?" a familiar voice says and we both turn around to see my dad, Poseidon looking exactly like me, but an older version. We both have jet-black hair and sea green eyes.
"Gwandpa!" Kailey squeals once more and she hops from my arms into his.
"Hey sweetie. How's my best girl?" he says.
"Gweat! Pwecy said he would dance with me!" she says.
"That's great! Don't forget your grandpa too," he says.
"Okay! Let's go right now! The music is starting!" she says then pulls his hand to the dance floor as he marvels at the little girl's strength.
"That's my girl," Cole says and we both laugh.
"Yeah. She's pretty amazing," I say.
"And I love her to death," he stares at her small figure stepping on my dad's feet as he dances with her.
"Who doesn't?" I say and he nods.
"Well, she does count as a princess," he turns and I realize that she does.
"That's true. Man, I hope she won't marry a snobby prince. Like Rachel's little brother for example," I say and his eyes widen.
"We would never do that to her. That would be horrible. But we were considering doing what your parents did to you. Taking all the young men throughout the kingdom and letting her choose one," he says.
"I guess that's a good idea…" I trail off.
"Are you ready to choose your dream girl?" he asks.
"As ready as I'll ever be," I say with a nervous laugh.
"Ladies and gentleman! It is time for the introduction of the Unknown Love candidates," a guard says at the top of the stairs and I know that was my cue to stand at the end of the stairs and greet each young lady.
"Good luck," Cole whispers and I give him a grateful smile. I walk at the end of the stairs and mentally prepare myself for the long night that will determine my fate.
A/N: Sorry that it's short! I will try and update by this weekend or on Monday, but it will be hard since I have to get ready for camp next week. I will be gone without a laptop from Tuesday until Saturday. I am very excited today because in exactly a month, I will be 13! FINALLY!
I also have a question for you all, when is Annabeth's birthday? I heard it was July 23, but I'm not sure.
On my profile, there are three different links leading to wedding dresses. The initials CFW stand for Choices For Wedding. There are 3 different choices for the wedding dresses I had in mind, but you need to vote on my poll for it. Thanks to the 3 people who already did! I know one person, LaughLoverCrystal, voted for it since she is one of my best friends.
I will try to update soon. VOTE and REVIEW!
